this is bbc news. the headlines: the leader of catalonia's devolved government, carles puigdemont, will address the regional parliament later on tuesday, and there is intense speculation that he could unilaterally declare independence from spain. more than a dozen wildfires raging across the us state of california's northern wine region have killed at least ten people and forced thousands from their homes. at least 1500 properties have so far been destroyed. a hearing is beginning in australia's highest court to clarify whether seven parliamentarians are entitled to hold office. the decision could deprive the government of its majority. iceland have got through to the football world cup finals for the first time in their history. they beat kosovo by two goals to nil in the group one qualifying round to secure a place in next year's competition in russia. now it's time for world business report. schools closed, flights cancelled

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and demonstrations — french unions urge more than 5 million workers to take to the streets. and staying relevant — the world bank says more needs to be invested in education, before artificial intelligence axes millions ofjobs. welcome to world business report. i'm sally bundock, also in the programme online retailers in china position themselves to meet the growing demand from the aspirational middle classes. rico will have the details. but first, a case of de ja vous — france is braced for mass strikes and protests today.

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unions have called on their 5.4 million members to take to the streets. so what's got them marching this time? they're angry about massive job cuts in the public sector — 120,000 positions are to be axed over the next five years. plus the unions are calling for higher wages that they argue have become stagnant and hugely impacted their buying power in the country. another main sticking point is proposed changes to social security contributions. president macron‘s plans would unify payments for all taxpayers, eliminating separate contributions for sickness and unemployment insurance. to add to the chaos today some air traffic controllers will be on strike which may result in the cancellation of up to 30% of flights across main airports in france today. so, if you're flying in and out of france make sure to double—check with your carrier before you set off. with me is ashok kumar a political economist at birkbeck, university of london. good morning. talk us through the

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day's issues. we had labour reform changes only a few weeks ago and we had strike action then as well. this is different. demand by public sector is unions — we have seen the story before but not like this. they have all come together. we have not seen this kind ofjoint action in a decade or more. the demands is about the 120,000 workers, the pay freeze which has been long—standing, social security changes but it cannot be separated from the laws passed a month ago. the second largest union and other unions have said this is and other unions have said this is an attack on their power. they

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negotiate for 90% of the works workforce. it undermines their power. when president macron campaign he said it would reduce the size of the public sector and there would bejob size of the public sector and there would be job losses size of the public sector and there would bejob losses but size of the public sector and there would be job losses but that this is what is needed in france to make it more competitive and bring it up to many economies in europe are already at. how will they be middleground met given the fact that macron has a majority in parliament? he could have passed reform in a presidential executive order style but if you look at his standing right now, it is not the strongest. he is the president with the fastest plummeting numbers in french

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history. 70% opposition to the reforms. he does not want to be tied by this with five years ahead. the mandarins of the state, the propriety of capitals, there is a question about unemployment numbers but they did not tell us the whole story. if you look at the uk, they indicate underemployment, the labour market contracting, in real terms. it is an indication that a proportion of the population in the uk hasa proportion of the population in the uk has a smaller number looking for work but there are other indicators that would make france less attractive for workers and employers. thank you for your time. we will keep a close eye on how

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things pan out in france. it will not be an easy ride for france at all. while we talk about changes in employment... automation is rapidly changing the employment market. one study by pricewaterhousecoopers suggests more than a third ofjobs in the us could be at risk over the next 20 years. so how can people and countries prepare? the world bank is set to roll out a new initiative to encourage more investment in human capital and education. it's boss has been speaking with michelle fleury about the urgent need to prepare people for the future workplace. automation and technology is going to eliminate so many low skilled jobs. in developing and developed countries? in both developing and developed countries. the one thing you know for sure you'll need in whatever the economy looks like in the future is people who can learn, who are able to adapt to new situations, who are able to learn new things, and right now many

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countries in the world do not have a workforce that is capable of that. it's time that we move on. what is the human capital project? we started looking at what is the connection between investments in human beings and their health and education and social protection. what's the connection between that and economic growth? what we found was the connection is far more profound than we had imagined. one of the studies that we looked at where we compared the countries the most versus the countries in the world that have improved their human capital the least, the top quartile grew over a 25—year period 1.25% gdp faster than the group that improved their human capital the least. you plan on shining the light on it by producing rankings? in a year we will publish a ranking that looks at the stock of human capital, what is the state

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of human capital now, but we will look at the flow, what are you doing to improve your human capital overtime? most importantly for every country, we're going to work with them to find ways to improve equality in their investments in health and education much more quickly. we wa nt we want to create a sense of urgency to invest in people that we think is necessary given the way the global economy is changing. how do you expect countries to react because the reason an element of naming and shaming to this. the purpose of the ranking system is not to name and chamber to reveal to the countries something we have now found that is quite profound. the chinese firm jd.com has launched a luxury e—commerce platform in a bid to reach affluent customers in the region. rico hizon is in singapore.

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you might think he is at the low end. don't look at me, affluent shoppers like you. this is a platform for you. if only, i wish! it will feature a wide range of luxury products from fashion, jewellery, home furnishings, health and the, electronics. it will further solidify and the, electronics. it will further solidinyd.com as china's second largest e—commerce company. same day delivery services. 2017 has been such a strong year forjd.com with analysts predicting it will $0011 with analysts predicting it will soon overtake the top firms and

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narrowed the gap between alibaba and tencent. alibaba narrowed the gap between alibaba and tencent. aliba ba controls narrowed the gap between alibaba and tencent. alibaba controls nearly half of business e—commerce consumers. jd.com is hoping this new strategy will have the company increase its shares. thank you very much and good to see you. ikea will start selling its famous flatpack furniture through online retailers as part of a wider push to become more accessible to shoppers. the swedish chain — known for its vast edge—of—town outlets — is also testing a smaller city centre store format. interesting. let's have a look at market really quickly. the japanese market really quickly. the japanese market and markets elsewhere are playing catch up because japan is open for the first time in over a

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week today. you can see hong kong is also higher following a week today. you can see hong kong is also higherfollowing a decent night the night before on wall street. i will be back in a moment. stay with us. for over a hundred years, police have used fingerprint matching to identify suspects. now police forces in yorkshire are piloting new technology which analyses prints to find out if someone has used drugs or alcohol and it can even tell what food they've eaten before committing a crime. spencer stokes has been to sheffield to find out more. a crime fighting method that has barely changed over the last century, fingerprint a unique mark of human identity. dusted, lifted and sent away to be scanned by experts at sheffield are reinventing

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the process with a fingerprint now being analysed for their chemical composition. chemicals that can show amongst other things, whether the suspect is a drug user or if they have been drinking. a fingerprint is nothing else than sweat and sweat is biological matrix so the amount of information potential to retrieve is huge. the fingerprint offer an insight into the lifestyle of the suspect at the time of the crime. as well as gender and food eaten, it can show if drugs have been taken, alcohol consumed, what cosmetics have been used including different types of hair gel. it is months away from being years. there is work going on between police and the university and we will be connecting people that made previously may have got away with it. now with those almost invisible traces left in

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scenes of crime, vaucluse could be about to be offered up than ever before. —— more clues. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast — dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. including more independence for yorkshire will be debated in parliament later today. brea kfast‘s steph mcgovern will be live from york in the centre of the county to look at what it will mean for the local economy and businesses. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the leader of catalonia's devolved government, carles puigdemont will address the regional parliament later on tuesday — and there is intense speculation that he could unilaterally declare independence from spain. more than a dozen wildfires raging across the us state of california's northern wine region have killed at least ten people and forced thousands from their homes. at least 1500 properties have so far been destroyed. iceland have got through to the football world cup finals for the first time in their history. a hearing is beginning in australia

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to see whether seven parliamentarian caught ina to see whether seven parliamentarian caught in a dual citizenship crisis will be able to maintain theirjobs. iceland have got through to the football world cup finals for the first time in their history. they beat kosovo by two goals to nil in the group one qualifying round to secure a place in next year's competition in russia. now it's time for our news review. we begin with the independent, which is leading on uk prime minister theresa may warning britain to prepare for crashing out of the eu without a deal. the irish times reports on catalonia's president carles puigdemont who is due to address parliament later today, with many supporters hoping for a unilateral declaration of independence. the arab news leads on fears of a civil war over the disputed city of kirkuk if talks over kurdish independence from iraq

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are left unresolved. le figaro says workers unions are enlisting civil servants in their fight against french president emmanuel macron‘s labour reform plans. the guardian carries a warning that the cost of treating global ill health caused by obesity will exceed $1.2 trillion yearly from 2025. and finally, the evening standard is following syria's world cup dream. they've defied expectations to reach this far in qualifying and play australia later. so let's begin. with me is 0liver cornock who is the editor—in—chief of the oxford business group.